Huron University College
ENG 1035E 551:
Introduction to Literature: Reading, Interpretation, Argument
2015-2016
Class Meetings: TU 1:30-2:30; TH 12:30-2:30
Location: HUC-W112
Instructor: Dr. Scott Schofield
E-mail: [email protected]
Phone: 519-438-7224, ext.221
Office: HUC-V129
Office Hours: F1-3 or by
appointment
Course Description
This course will introduce students to a wide range of literary styles, genres, and
forms from a broad historical selection of largely western literature. Over two
semesters we will touch on several literary periods and read plays, poems, essays,
novels, and novellas in conversation with instances of visual art, film, and social
media. We will also approach the material from several different critical
perspectives as determined by the demands of the particular text; that is, we will
consider works for how they reflect and also shape attitudes and ideas about
gender, race, economics, rhetoric, and history. On completion of this course,
students will be able to determine a text's genre and understand better how the
interaction between form and content produces meaning. Students will also gain a
deeper sense of historical context and the development of literature across time.
Finally, students will develop skills for reading beyond the plot, skills that will help
to explore how literary artworks develop layers of significance that cannot be
reduced to simple summary or cliché morality.
In addition to literary study, this course also includes a series of in-class, groupbased workshops and assignments. Methodologically, this course will consist of
workshops, class discussions, and lectures.
Learning Objectives
By the end of the course, students should be able to:
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Develop effective strategies of close reading through various class
assignments.
Explain how decisions about focalization can serve narrative intention and
theme.
Explain how a text may rely for meaning on a web of inter-relationships with
other texts.
Distinguish speaker from historical author.
Distinguish between various genres and kinds of literature.
Gain a sense of periodization, from medieval to post-modern
Distinguish between realist and non-realist forms of narrative.
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Compare ways in which landscape, and movement through it, may serve
theme.
Distinguish between effects of respective uses of scene time and summary
time.
Explain how structural divisions help convey narrative meaning.
Construct a coherent argument (i.e. a thesis) about the texts they have read.
Write logically and persuasively in fluent, standard English using the
appropriate MLA conventions for scholarly-critical writing.
Locate and engage with secondary critical readings.
Balance and integrate criticism with their own analysis of the primary texts.
Required Texts:
Black, Joseph et al. Ed. The Broadview Anthology of British Literature: From the
Medieval Period to the Twenty-First Century. One Volume Compact
Edition. Peterborough: Broadview, 2015. Paperback.
Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Ed. Margaret Cardwell. Peterborough: Broadview
Press, 1999. Paperback.
Shakespeare, William. Julius Caesar. Ed. John D. Cox. Peterborough:
Broadview, 2012. Paperback.
Assessment:
Participation and Workshops: Regular Weekly Exercises
20%
Students are expected to participate regularly throughout the course. There are
various ways to participate, including: answering questions in class, engaging in
workshops, posting, and coming to office hours.
A note on workshops: One hour of each week will be reserved for group exercises
and workshops. It is expected that you take these moments seriously and that your
contribution is both thoughtful and considerate. Some workshops will be devoted
to working on critical analysis and writing, while others will focus on researching
and presentation skills.
A note on the course discussion board: The discussion board is designed for you to
share and exchange with other classmates your thoughts, queries and reflections on
the readings and class discussions from the course.
Initiating Discussion
Sign-up
5%
Initiating Discussion #1: Written Response: 2.5%
In the first semester, students will sign up to initiate discussion on the text assigned
for a particular week. Students will write a 250-word response to a guided question
from the instructor and submit it to the instructor by 9pm on the day before the
class. The student’s response will start the class discussion and will be marked
based on an effective and analytical response to the question and appropriate
writing style. Students will meet with the professor at some point after the
submission of their written response for a discussion about their response.
Initiating Discussion #2: Presentation: 2.5%
In the second semester, students will sign up to initiate discussion for the text of the
week with a short presentation at the beginning of class. In 3-5 minutes, students
will respond to a guiding question and ask a question of their own. Students will be
assessed based on engagement with the text and effectiveness at leading discussion.
Students are expected to hand in an outline of their presentation. Sign up will occur
at the end of the first semester.
Close Reading Assignment
750 words
See syllabus
5%
In this 2 to 3 page assignment, students will submit a close reading of a short text or
a section of a longer text to practice close analysis.
In-class Test
Nov. 19th
10%
A one-hour test of short answers and passage analyses based on the readings
completed up to November 17th.
Essay One
1000 words
January 21
10%
A comparative essay of two literary works studied up to the week of January 14. A
list of possible questions will be submitted in advance.
Essay Two
1250-1500 words
March 31
15%
A slightly longer comparative essay of two literary works from the term. This essay
will also require students to consult and cite secondary sources. A list of possible
questions will be submitted in advance.
Final Exam
TBA
35%
Final Exam: 35%
A cumulative exam during the April exam period. Date to be determined. Please do
not book travel plans before schedule is finalized.
STUDENTS MUST PASS BOTH TERM WORK AND THE FINAL EXAMINATION (IN COURSES
WITH FINAL EXAMINATIONS) IN ORDER TO PASS THE COURSE. STUDENTS WHO FAIL THE
FINAL EXAMINATION (REGARDLESS OF THEIR TERM MARK) AUTOMATICALLY FAIL THE
COURSE.
Special Instructions
Attendance and Preparation:
Classes will include a combination of lecture, in-class discussion and workshop. Inclass participation is worth 10% of the final mark. Regular attendance at lectures is
essential and considered part of your participation grade. I will take attendance
each class. Absenteeism can result in debarment from writing the final examination,
which in the Department of English results in failure of the course. The Academic
Calendar reads:
Any student who, in the opinion of the instructor, is absent too frequently from
class or laboratory periods in any course, will be reported to the Dean of the
Faculty offering the course (after due warning has been given). On
recommendation of the Department concerned, and with the permission of the
Dean of that Faculty, the student will be debarred from taking the regular
examination in the course. (39)
The participation grade in this course is determined, in part, by attendance. Please
obtain notes from a classmate if you miss one or more classes, and see me if you
have questions about the material that was covered during your absence. Notify me
as soon as possible if a serious illness or other concern is affecting your ability to
keep up with the course. It is also wise to contact an academic counsellor if you are
experiencing academic or personal difficulties. Students are expected to have the
text(s) assigned on a given day read, in their entirety, before class lecture and
discussions.
Essay Format:
All essays should be double-spaced and printed in a standard font. Please follow
Modern Languages Association (MLA) format. Here is a link to the UWO Library's
up-to-date MLA style guidelines:
https://www.lib.uwo.ca/files/styleguides/MLA.pdf
Students are responsible for retaining back-up copies of their papers and of their notes
and drafts.
Late Essays and Assignments
All essays and assignments are due in hard copy on the specified date (see above).
Essays submitted in hard copy after that date will receive a penalty of 2% per day
(including weekends). No essay will be accepted later than seven days after the
original due date unless prior, special arrangements have been made with the
instructor. Essays will not be accepted in electronic form or by e-mail. Please
do not slide late essays (or anything else, for that matter) under my office
door; instead, place all late assignments in the Essay Box located outside the
Faculty of Arts and Social Science office (A116), and they will be date stamped.
Late essays will probably not receive extended commentary.
Final Exam
The final examination (35%) will cover all material from both terms. The date of the
final examination is to be set by the Registrar during the formal examination period.
Office Hours, E-mail and Owl
Students are encouraged to meet with me throughout the term to discuss grades,
course content, and other related matters. E-mail should be reserved for important
matters (i.e. notifying me of an absence from a test or exam) and for setting up
appointments. Announcements, reminders and other relevant matters pertaining to
the course will be posted on Owl. Please check the site regularly.
Class Schedule
*Unless otherwise specified, all page numbers correspond to the first page for a
given work in the Broadview Anthology of British Literature.
Introduction: Overview and Samples
Sept 10
 Introduction to class
 William Butler Yeats, “The Lake Isle of Innisfree”
 Evaluating Argument. First thoughts on Michael Harris, The End of Absence.
The Middle Ages
Sept 15/17
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Geoffrey Chaucer, “The General Prologue” lines 1-42. From The Canterbury
Tales. (p. 206-)
Anon. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. (pp. 135-201).
The Renaissance
Sept 22/24
 Thomas Wyatt, “The long love that in my heart doth harbor”; “Whoso list to
hunt” (432; 439)
 Edmund Spenser, From Amoretti (Sonnets 34 and 75). (484; 486)
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Philip Sidney, From Astrophil and Stella (Sonnets 1,2 and 7) (493-494)
Shakespeare, From Sonnets (Sonnets 2, 18, 130) (583-584, 592)
Sept. 29/Oct. 1
 Andrew Marvell “To his Coy Mistress” (698)
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John Donne “To his Mistress Going to Bed” (676);
“A Valediction Forbidding Morning” (671, 676).
Oct 6-15
 Shakespeare, Julius Caesar Broadview Edition.
Oct 20/22
 Aemilia Lanyer, “Eve's Apology in Defence of Women” (531).
 John Milton, Paradise Lost, Selections from Books 1, 4 and 9 (724)
Restoration
Oct 27
 Milton, Paradise Lost continued.
Close Reading Assignment Due.
November 3/5
 Aphra Behn, “The Disappointment” (876).
 John Wilmot, the Second Earl of Rochester, “The Imperfect Enjoyment” (920).
 Jonathan Swift, “The Lady’s Dressing Room” (955)
November 10/12
 Visit to Library; Scavenger Hunt
 How We Read Now: Second Thoughts on Harris, The End of Absence
November 17/19
 Alexander Pope, “The Rape of the Lock” (1007).
In-class Test (Nov. 19)
Romantics and Victorians
November 24/26
 William Blake, From Songs of Innocence and Experience (1140-1153); William
Wordsworth, Ode: Intimations of Immortality (1234)
December 1/3
 Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “Kubla Kahn” (1282); “The Rime of the Ancient
Mariner” (1262)
December 8
 “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” continued
Winter Semester
Romantics and Victorians (continued)
Jan 5-14

Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre. Broadview Edition. Selections from the 2011
film adaptation.
Jan 19/21
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Percy Bysshe Shelley, “Ozymandias” (1349); John Keats, “Ode to a
Nightingale” (1398); Matthew Arnold, “Dover Beach” (1613).
First Essay Due (January 21)
Jan 26/28
 Alfred, Lord Tennyson, “The Lady of Shallot” (1513)
Feb 2/4
 Robert Browning, “My Last Duchess” (1573)
 Christina Rossetti, “In an Artist's Studio” (1627).
Modernism
Feb 9/11
 Thomas Hardy, “The Darkling Thrush”; “The Convergence of the Twain”;
“Neutral Tones” (1638, 1639)
Reading Week
Feb 23/25
 William Butler Yeats, “The Wild Swans at Coole”; “The Second Coming”
(1835, 1837).
March 1-3
 T.S. Eliot, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock“; Journey of the Magi” (1902;
1915)
March 8-10
 Virginia Woolf, “Kew Gardens” (1847)
March 15/17
 James Joyce, “The Dead”.
March 22/24
 W.H. Auden, “Musee des Beaux Arts” (1924); Edward Field “Icarus” (online);
Philip Larkin, “Talking in Bed”(1954); “Ambulances”; “MCMXIV”; (online);
Seamus Heaney, “Digging” (1963)
Post-Modernism
March 29-31
Salman Rushdie, The Prophet’s Hair (1989); Derek Walcott, “A Far Cry from
Africa” (online) Second Essay Due (March 31st)
April 5
Margaret Atwood, Death by Landscape (handout/online)
Wrap-up and Review
Final Exam: TBA
Appendix to Course Outlines
Prerequisite Information
Students are responsible for ensuring that they have successfully completed all course
prerequisites. Unless you have either the requisites for this course or written special
permission from your Dean to enrol in it, you may be removed from this course and it
will be deleted from your record. This decision may not be appealed. You will receive no
adjustment to your fees in the event that you are dropped from a course for failing to
have the necessary prerequisites.
Conduct of Students in Classes, Lectures, and Seminars
Membership in the community of Huron University College and the University of
Western Ontario implies acceptance by every student of the principle of respect for the
rights, responsibilities, dignity and well-being of others and a readiness to support an
environment conducive to the intellectual and personal growth of all who study, work
and live within it. Upon registration, students assume the responsibilities that such
registration entails. The academic and social privileges granted to each student are
conditional upon the fulfillment of these responsibilities.
In the classroom, students are expected to behave in a manner that supports the learning
environment of others. Students can avoid any unnecessary disruption of the class by
arriving in sufficient time to be seated and ready for the start of the class, by remaining
silent while the professor is speaking or another student has the floor, and by taking care
of personal needs prior to the start of class. If a student is late, or knows that he/she will
have to leave class early, be courteous: sit in an aisle seat and enter and leave quietly.
Please see the Code of Student Rights and Responsibilities at:
http://www.huronuc.ca/CurrentStudents/StudentLifeandSupportServices/StudentDisci
pline
Technology
It is not appropriate to use technology (such as, but not limited to, laptops, PDAs, cell
phones) in the classroom for non-classroom activities. Such activity is disruptive and is
distracting to other students and to the instructor, and can inhibit learning. Students are
expected to respect the classroom environment and to refrain from inappropriate use of
technology and other electronic devices in class.
Academic Accommodation for Medical/Non-Medical Grounds
Requests for Accommodation on Medical Grounds for assignments worth
10% or more of final grade: Go Directly to Academic Advising
University Senate policy, which can be found at
http://www.uwo.ca/univsec/pdf/academic_policies/appeals/accommodation_medical.
pdf,
requires that all student requests for accommodation on medical grounds for
assignments worth 10% or more of the final grade be made directly to the academic
advising office of the home faculty (for Huron students, the “home faculty” is Huron),
with supporting documentation in the form (minimally) of the Senate-approved Student
Medical Certificate found at:
http://www.uwo.ca/univsec/pdf/academic_policies/appeals/medicalform_15JUN.pdf.
The documentation is submitted in confidence and will not be shown to instructors. The
advisors will contact the instructor when the medical documentation is received, and will
outline the severity and duration of the medical challenge as expressed on the Student
Medical Certificate and in any other supporting documentation. The student will be
informed that the instructor has been informed of the presence of medical
documentation, and will be instructed to work as quickly as possible with the instructor
on an agreement for accommodation. The instructor will not normally deny
accommodation where appropriate medical documentation is in place and where the
duration it describes aligns with the due date(s) of assignment(s). Before denying a
request for accommodation on medical grounds, the instructor will consult with the
Assistant Dean, Student Success. The instructor’s decision is appealable to the dean.
Requests for Accommodation on Medical Grounds for assignments worth
less than 10% of final grade: Consult Instructor Directly
When seeking accommodation on medical grounds for assignments worth less than 10%
of the final course grade, the student should contact the instructor directly. The student
need only share broad outlines of the medical situation. The instructor may require the
student to submit documentation to the academic advisors, in which case she or he will
advise the student and inform the academic advisors to expect documentation. The
instructor may not collect medical documentation. The advisors will contact the
instructor when the medical documentation is received, and will outline the severity and
duration of the medical challenge as expressed on the Student Medical Certificate and in
any other supporting documentation. The student will be informed that the instructor
has been informed of the presence of medical documentation, and will be instructed to
work as quickly as possible with the instructor on an agreement for accommodation. The
instructor will not normally deny accommodation where appropriate medical
documentation is in place and where the duration it describes aligns with the due date(s)
of assignment(s). Before denying a request for accommodation on medical grounds, the
instructor will consult with the Assistant Dean, Student Success. The instructor’s
decision is appealable to the dean.
Requests for Accommodation on Non-medical Grounds: Consult Instructor
Directly
Where the grounds for seeking accommodation are not medical, the student should
contact the instructor directly. Apart from the exception noted below, academic advisors
will not be involved in the process of accommodation for non-medical reasons.
Where a student seeks accommodation on non-medical grounds where confidentiality is
a concern, the student should approach an academic advisor with any documentation
available. The advisors will contact the instructor after the student’s request is received,
and will outline the severity and duration of the challenge without breaching confidence.
The student will be informed that the instructor has been informed that significant
circumstances are affecting or have affected the student’s ability to complete work, and
the student will be instructed to work as quickly as possible with the instructor on an
agreement for accommodation. Before denying a request for accommodation where
documentation has been submitted to an academic advisor, the instructor will consult
with the Assistant Dean, Student Success. The instructor’s decision is appealable to the
dean.
Statement on Academic Offences
Scholastic offences are taken seriously and students are directed to read the appropriate
policy, specifically, the definition of what constitutes a Scholastic Offence, at the
following Web site:
http://www.uwo.ca/univsec/pdf/academic_policies/appeals/scholastic_discipline_und
ergrad.pdf
Statement on Academic Integrity
The International Centre for Academic Integrity defines academic integrity as "a
commitment, even in the face of adversity, to five fundamental values: honesty, trust,
fairness, respect, and responsibility. From these values flow principles of behaviour that
enable academic communities to translate ideals to action." (CAI Fundamental Values
Project, 1999).
A lack of academic integrity is indicated by such behaviours as the following:
Cheating on tests;
Fraudulent submissions online;
Plagiarism in papers submitted (including failure to cite and
piecing
together unattributed sources);
Unauthorized resubmission of course work to a different course;
Helping someone else cheat;
Unauthorized collaboration;
Fabrication of results or sources;
Purchasing work and representing it as one’s own.
Academic Integrity: Importance and Impact
Being at university means engaging with a variety of communities in the pursuit and
sharing of knowledge and understanding in ways that are clear, respectful, efficient, and
productive. University communities have established norms of academic integrity to
ensure responsible, honest, and ethical behavior in the academic work of the university,
which is best done when sources of ideas are properly and fully acknowledged and when
responsibility for ideas is fully and accurately represented.
In the academic sphere, unacknowledged use of another’s work or ideas is not only an
offence against the community of scholars and an obstacle to academic productivity. It
may also be understood as fraud and may constitute an infringement of legal copyright.
A university is a place for fulfilling one's potential and challenging oneself, and this
means rising to challenges rather than finding ways around them. The achievements in
an individual’s university studies can only be fairly evaluated quantitatively through true
and honest representation of the actual learning done by the student. Equity in
assessment for all students is ensured through fair representation of the efforts by each.
Acting with integrity at university constitutes a good set of practices for maintaining
integrity in later life. Offences against academic integrity are therefore taken very
seriously as part of the university’s work in preparing students to serve, lead, and
innovate in the world at large.
A university degree is a significant investment of an individual’s, and the public’s, time,
energies, and resources in the future, and habits of academic integrity protect that
investment by preserving the university’s reputation and ensuring public confidence in
higher education.
Students found guilty of plagiarism will suffer consequences ranging from a
grade reduction to failure in the course to expulsion from the university. In
addition, a formal letter documenting the offence will be filed in the Dean’s
Office, and this record of the offence will be retained in the Dean’s Office for
the duration of the student’s academic career at Huron University College.
All required papers may be subject to submission for textual similarity review to the
commercial plagiarism detection software under license to the University for the
detection of plagiarism. All papers submitted for such checking will be included as
source documents in the reference database for the purpose of detecting plagiarism of
papers subsequently submitted to the system. Use of the service is subject to the
licensing agreement, currently between The University of Western Ontario and
Turnitin.com.
Computer-marked multiple-choice tests and/or exams may be subject to submission for
similarity review by software that will check for unusual coincidences in answer patterns
that may indicate cheating.
Personal Response Systems (“clickers”) may be used in some classes. If clickers are to be
used in a class, it is the responsibility of the student to ensure that the device is activated
and functional. Students must see their instructor if they have any concerns about
whether the clicker is malfunctioning. Students must use only their own clicker. If
clicker records are used to compute a portion of the course grade:

the use of somebody else’s clicker in class constitutes a scholastic offence,
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the possession of a clicker belonging to another student will be interpreted as an
attempt to commit a scholastic offence.
Policy on Special Needs
Students who require special accommodation for tests and/or other course components
must make the appropriate arrangements with the Student Development Centre (SDC).
Further details concerning policies and procedures may be found at:
http://www.sdc.uwo.ca/ssd/?requesting_acc
Attendance Regulations for Examinations
A student is entitled to be examined in courses in which registration is maintained,
subject to the following limitations:
1) A student may be debarred from writing the final examination for failure to maintain
satisfactory academic standing throughout the year.
2) Any student who, in the opinion of the instructor, is absent too frequently from class
or laboratory periods in any course will be reported to the Dean of the Faculty offering
the course (after due warning has been given). On the recommendation of the
Department concerned, and with the permission of the Dean of that Faculty, the student
will be debarred from taking the regular examination in the course. The Dean of the
Faculty offering the course will communicate that decision to the Dean of the Faculty of
registration.
Class Cancellations
In the event of a cancellation of class, every effort will be made to post that information
on the Huron website, http://www.huronuc.ca/AccessibilityInfo (“Class Cancellations”).
Mental Health @ Western
Students who are in emotional/mental distress should refer to Mental Health @ Western
http://www.uwo.ca/uwocom/mentalhealth/ for a complete list of options about how to
obtain help.
Academic Advising
For advice on course selections, degree requirements, and for assistance with requests
for medical accommodation [see above], students should contact an Academic Advisor in
Huron’s Student Support Services ([email protected]). An outline of the range of
services offered is found on the Huron website at:
http://www.huronuc.ca/CurrentStudents/AcademicAdvisorsandServices
Department Chairs and Program Directors and Coordinators are also able to answer
questions about their individual programs. Their contact information can be found on
the Huron website at:
http://www.huronuc.ca/Academics/FacultyofArtsandSocialScience